The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1887-10-13

an acre Of the public domain upon
which corn and wheat can be raised /
without irrigation, subject to pre-
emptiOn or homestead entry within the /
present limits of the United States.
Real estate VIII increase enormously in
value. Our surplus population, no
longer having the fertile area of free
land over which to diffuse itself. win
accumulate In cities. The rich VIII be-
come richer and the poor viii become |
poorer. The middle class VIII grad
ually disappear, as the struggle for ex-
iStence becomes fierce and relentless.
A dim consciousness Of impending |
peril has already penetrated the public l
mind, and in obedience to its admo-
nitions the Chinese have been excluded |
with barbarous ngor, in violation OF |
treaties, and Notwithstanding the so
norOus manifesto of 1858, that Tex /
patriation is a natural and inherent
right of all people, and that any de-
claration, instruction, opinion, order, |
or decision of any officer of the Gov
eminent which denies, restricts, i'm
pairs, or questions this right, is sim
consistent with the principles OF this
Government" In obedience to the
same impulse the acquisition of real
estate by aliens has been rigidly limit
ed by act of Congress. The demand
for further legislation in the same di-
rection is imperative, and cannot be
disregarded. The SophiStication OF the
national suffrage by the unreStra1ned
admission to citizenship of assisted
pauperS, fugitive felOns, and the ayow-
ed enemies of the social contract, must
cease. Our capacity for assimilation Is
exhausted. More than one million
skilled and unskilled labofers are now
unemployed, or employed at wages IN
adequate for the support of themselves
and their families. Trade and indus
try are menaced by unlawful cOmbina-
tiOns that resort to the destruction OF
life and property to accomplish their
designs, and the hour is approaching
when the active coalition OF the con-
servative forces of the country will be
necessary to prevent destructive organ
ic changes in our social and political
system. The constant infusion of fresh
| blood is essential to national health,
but there is no blood poison SO fatal as
| adulteration of race. We are no
longer homogeneous. Unity OF pur-
pose and interest does not exist. The
| hOrdes of Socialism and Anarchy are
openly organized under the red flag,
| drilled and armed, infiamed by incendi-
airy appeals, denOuncing property as
robbery, and openly declaring war
against all social institutions. The
/ atrocious murder of policemen in
| Chicago found its apolOgists, and SO
| feeble was the force of public opinion
| that at the next municipal election it
required the cooperation OF both po-
litical parties to prevent the capture OF
the city government by these eXecrable
malefactorS, whose lnsolent challenge
should have been met by the DayOnet
and the gallows. And so strong is the
sympathy among the hitherto unsus-
pected classes that it is doubtful wheth-
or the felons who were convicted by a
courageous jury do not escape the PEN
atty of their boosted crimes, through
the intrigues of pusillanimous poll
tieians, or the inevitable conservatism
of an elective judiciary.
To these portentous Perils the adyo.
Gates of the Sixteenth Amendment
would add the unknown element of un-
restricted female suffrage, with the
certain, but unknown, elements or ig-
norance, degradation, inexperience,
and compatibility that would accom-
PAW the experiment. The reply to
this suggestion is that the vote OF
women would purify politics and con-
stitute a safeguard against the evils
which all admit and deplore.
But this theory that all women, or a
majority of them, would always vote
for the publication of politics and so
ciety, has been practically tested in
Utah. The Legislature of that terri
tory gave women the ballot. The eff
forts Of Congress to elevate women by
the extirpatiOn Of the crime of pOlyg-
amy have been StrenuOuSly resisted by
the Mormons. The revolving practice
destroyed the purity, deficacy, and re-
finement of woman, the sacredneSS OF
family it substituted the herd; for the
home it substituted the sty. Here, if
ever, was the place and the time fol
the instincts of woman to exhibit their
highest and nOblest activity. But
either from choice or by cOmpulsion,
| instead of cooperating with the law,
they thWarted and baf1ed it by their
votes at every election. The women OF
/ Utah became the strong tower of de-
voted for their continued degradation
and for the corruption of society, SO
that Congress was compelled at its last
session, by the twentieth section of the
| Anti-PolYgamy Act, to disfranchiSe
them absolutely. and to annul the ter
ritorial enactmentS providing for the
registration and voting of females.
The silence of the champions of the
Sixteenth Amendment concerning this
act of Congressional tyranny is like the
stiffness of the sepulchre. Possibly it
has escaped their attention. But il
voting be a natural right, then the
women of Utah have suffered redOubled
Injustice, for they have been deprived
by national authority of prerOgative
conferred both by nature and by law.
If just government rests upon the con
sent of the governed, then the Ed
munds Statute is the Quintessence OF
concentrated despotism. If woman
suffrage be the panacea that is to cure
the ills of society and purify politics
the intervention of Congress was su.
perfluOus, and polygamy should have
persisted in the house of its friends
The truth is, that good women are bet
ter than the best men, and bad women
are worse than the worst men, but in
politics the virtues of women would dc
more harm than their vices. The
strongest evidence of their capacity fol-
suffrage is the admitted fact that they
do not want it. No one doubts thai
whenever women desire to vote, the
ballot will be given to them. The in
SurmOuntable obstacle to the Six
teenth Amendment will be found, moi
} in the hostility of men. but in the in
difference and aversion OF women
There is not a state, county, nor town
ship in the United States in which thu
proposition, if submitted to the deciS
ion of the wives, mothers, and daugh
tiers resident therein, would not be re
iected by an unmistakable majority.
The agitation is not new. Nearly {
century ago the French metaphysical
Condorcet, published his celebrated
plea for the enfranchisement of woman
A little later New Jersey tried the ex
pertinent for several years, and theT
abandoned it, with the concurrence o.
both sexes. The first Nationa
Woman's Rights Convention was held
in 1850, and for more than twenty year.
Congress has been annually petitioneG
upon the subject of woman suffrage
The question has been respectfully
treated, and its advocates have beer
accorded courteous consideration. In
many states qualified suffrage has beer
granted to women in school and NUM-
cipal affairs, with interesting and sig
nificant results. The statistics in Mas
sachusetts are most minute and &C
cessible. The national movement be
gan there, and the agitation has been
most vigorous and persistent. Its
Il aI. foF